Summer Movie Wager 2015!

Hey everyone! I’m a little late this year but it is definitely that time of year again! I’m going to take a minute today to lay the groundwork for our 2015 Summer Movie Wager!

I stole the idea for this Summer Movie Wager from The Totally Rad Show who, in turn, stole it from TimeTravelReviews. In this wager, we attempt to predict the top 10 grossing films of the Summer —in order. We take worldwide numbers into account when we do this, so keep that in mind. This year, the “Summer” releases constitute any movie that comes out on May 1st, 2015 all the way through August 28th, 2015. NOTE: Any money made by these releases before May 1st WILL be counted FOR that release. So Avengers: Age of Ultron has a couple weeks of international box office to account for. ALSO NOTE: Submissions will be scored in late September to give August releases time to build money.

So, we have a form available here that you can use to fill out and submit your ballot to us. Your ballot will consist of:

1. Your name.
2. Your picks for the top 10 grossing movies of the summer, in order.
3. Three additional movies that could also end up in the top 10, known as your “dark horses”.
4. Finally, your address and email if you wish to win a prize!

Please submit your ballot by 11:59 PM EDT on May 19th, 2015 to be considered in the wager. Anything submitted after will not be scored to win. That gives you two weekends to make adjustments, this is particularly helpful for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road. Once you have hit submit on this form, you will not be able to edit anything! So make sure you’ve chosen wisely, and make sure you’ve spelled your name and address correctly if you want to receive your prize. ALSO NOTE: If a movie gets pushed back after you have submitted your form, you cannot substitute it for anything else! NO EXCEPTIONS, even once the wager has begun.

Speaking of the prizes, here’s what you can win (please note these may change depending on the winner’s location):

• First Place: A movie in any available format up to $40 or a $40 gift card to a theater chain of your choice
• Second Place: A $20 gift card to a theater chain of your choice
• Third Place: A $10 gift card to a theater chain of your choice

Real quickly, here’s how scoring goes:

• 13 points for correctly guessing #1 and #10
• 10 points for correctly guessing #2 – #9
• 7 points if your pick is only one spot away from where it ended up
• 5 points if it is two spots away
• 3 points if it is elsewhere on the list
• and 1 point if a dark horse makes it on the list

I will provide weekly updates on the podcast as to what the top 10 grossing movies of the summer are. Weekly updates will be provided until the end of September, giving any August releases time to make some money. Ballots will then be scored in the final week of September.

To point you in the right direction, here’s two useful resources:

1. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_in_film

Use them as you will.

Any questions can be directed to feedback@midwestfilmnerds.com, our twitter, our facebook, or our voicemail hotline at (248) 733-5MFN or (248) 733-5636

Best of luck to all participants! As always, Kyle XY, go watch a movie.